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‘Oxyana’ Maker Defends Lack Of WV Fact-Checking

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The director of a documentary about drug addiction in southern West Virginia says he didn't try to verify some shocking statistics because he wasn't concerned whether they were accurate.

"Oyxana" director Sean Dunne tells West Virginia Public Broadcasting he was concerned about immersing viewers in a drug culture that he says needs to be tackled.

The film became available on DVD and online Monday.

Its subjects offer numbers and percentages about everything from homelessness and hepatitis C cases to babies born addicted to methadone.

Dunne says verifying them wasn't his mission. He says the film is just a vessel for those voices.

But there is one critical and verifiable figure: State statistics show Wyoming County had the highest per-capita rate of fatal overdoses in West Virginia in 2011.